Recipes and running from a long-term vegan

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Green Day

Yesterday was a veg-filled day for me – a good day. However, this is a picture-less post. Whoops. Sorry. Life has kind of gotten ahead of me today….I had some cases to deal with in a county I don’t practice often in, and then I had to teach tonight. Class was great – we’re discussing the constitutional right to privacy, which of course is arguably not even a constitutional right – but it is exhausting to be in court during the day and then teach a 3-hour class at night. Luckily, I only teach on Mondays so my week only gets better in terms of workload.

yesterday’s run: I only had 1 mile to make it to my 25-mile goal. I ran a nice, slow, easy 2-3 miles. I was pleasantly surprised to not be sore after Saturday’s 12-miler, but my husband was gone all day yesterday so I did not have the chance to run until fairly late in the evening. I am really a morning runner, so any miles I log after 8 a.m. are ones I congratulate myself for. 🙂

Today’s run: None. I am not used to be in court at 9 a.m. in a different county on a Monday morning, so I slept in a bit and skipped my run. Running goals: same as last week. 25 miles total, add weights/abs (ahem. I did exaclty one day of weights and abs this week. Oops.)

I was feeling the need for some serious veggies yesterday. Lunch was a big ol’ brown rice/veggie/sauce bowl. This is a fairly standard meal for me. It’s nothing exciting in terms of culinary adventure, but eating a big bowl of rice and veggies is a necessity of life sometimes, plus it’s just so darn tasty and satisfying! I have this whenever I don’t know what else to eat, whenever I feel like I haven’t had enough veggies, whenever I want something simple yet satisfying and delicious, etc. Yesterday, I used carrots, kale, and zucchini as my base veggies, sauted in a little oil with a little salt, but any veggies will work. I really wanted broccoli but I decided to save it for the 3-year old, who literally clamors for broccoli (and tofu!). I know ‘bowls’ are all the rage these days, and are all over the blogworld and veg restaurants…..so it’s not like anyone needs another bowl recipe, or needs to be told how to make a bowl. Pile in a grain. Follow with a protein, if you want. Smother with lots of steamed/sauteed vegs, then pour sauce over the whole stinkin’ think and eat. Easy, healthy, delicious. The beauty of the bowl is in its simplicity; the wonder of a bowl is in its sauce. The sauce can really make the whole meal.

The sauce I made for yesterday’s bowl was scrumptious. I wish I recorded the measurements. At least there’s still some left over. I put all this in the magic bullet:

a generous scoop of tahini (maybe 1/4 cup?)

a not-so-generous scoop of miso (1-2 tablespoons? I ran out, otherwise I would have used more)

1 clove garlic

a generous splash of soy sauce (1 tablespoon?)

a small splash of olive oil (1-2 teaspoons?)

a squirt of srirachi (I was going to use curry paste, but then the srirachi beckoned me…..and who I am to ignore its siren calls?)

water (1/4 cup?)

Blend in the magic bullet. Layer veg over brown rice, pour sauce over. FABULOUS. And so fillling! Between nursing and running, I have a decently fast metabolism. I have a hard time finding food that keeps me full for more than 5 minutes. This kept me full for 6 hours. I think that was mostly due to the kale. I love kale, I really do. I hate to play favorites but kale is probably my favorite veg.

We had more green-ness for dinner yesterday when I made the girls ‘green ice cream’. I get stressed out when they don’t eat some green veg at every meal. Most of the time they are good about eating their green veg – the 3-year old will happily chow on broccoli and zucchini. The 1-year-old is a different story. Every now and then, though, they don’t eat anything and then I get all stressed. So yesterday I made this green ice cream and they LOVED it. I ended up making two batches and they ate all of it. The younger one was covered in green by the end, which was just adorable.

Green Ice Cream (this will only fool toddlers….for anyone else, it’s a green smoothie, because it is definitely NOT the consistency of ice cream. It is still delicious even as a smoothie, though.)

1 banana, preferably frozen

a generous handful of fresh spinach

ice, particularly if the banana is not frozen

a splash of soy milk

vanilla, optional

Put ingredients into magic bullet. Blend until creamy. Feed to small children and watch them devour it in absolute delight.